Abstract
Cardiac regenerative medicine is emerging as a new approach to treat severe cardiovascular diseases that are resistant to conventional therapies. To achieve fair engraftment and efficient outcome, the method of cell transplantation is important, as the efficacy of engraftment after simple needle injection is relatively poor. Using biomaterials (e.g. collagen, fibrin, gelatin or matrigel) as a scaffold of the transplanted cells is an effective method, and various attempts to control cell distribution for the creation of tissue-like structure have been made. In this regard, scaffold-free cell sheet technology using temperature-responsive culture surface is another promising method because it bears potential for generating three-dimensional tissue-like structure in vitro. Furthermore, the cell sheet system enables us to elucidate the cellular mechanisms for cardiac regeneration. Combination of cell therapy and sustained release of growth factors, such as basic fibroblast growth factor, is another valuable approach for cell engraftment and augmentation of the potential of cell transplantation. Herein, we review various engraftment strategies of the transplanted cells to achieve more efficient outcome in cardiac cell therapy. We expect that these advanced modalities with bioengineering technology would largely contribute to cardiac regenerative medicine.
